Aftermath
by countrypanther14
Summary: Sequel to Long Night: It had been a few days since Johnny had gotten shot by those bears. In the meantime, Buster's trying to organize a charity concert to pay for Johnny's hospital bills, and Johnny's friends are trying to cheer him up.
1. Chapter 1

**Told you I would get around to writing the sequel. R &R**

 **DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my OCs.**

* * *

"Okay, thank you," Buster said before hanging up the phone, and sighing.

Normally it would be easy for him to set up a show, especially when it was a charity event he could donate the profits of to the entire hospital if enough animals showed up. But the only problem was there was a rumor going around the entire city that Johnny had died, thanks to Lance's video. Of course, that rumor was slowly dying down, and being dismissed thanks to the Moon Theatre Group's social media posts easing the public's worries for Johnny. But Buster was more worried about Johnny's eventual return to school, because things had gotten so bad at school for Johnny, that he considered dropping out until he and Rosita talked him out of it. So he knew that if Johnny showed up to the school where the rumor would still linger, it may damage his reputation even more; especially if that Tyler kid Johnny talked about got a hold of the gossip. And he had just gotten off the phone with Nana, asking if she could donate some money. But she said she was donating to a different cause, and refused.

"Coffee?" a voice asked.

"Thank you Ms. Cra-"

Stopping mid-sentence because he knew the voice did not belong to Ms. Crawly, he looked over, and saw a crested porcupine that had to be a few years younger than Ash standing there in the same outfit as Lance; except her undershirt was green rather than blue.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Getting you some coffee since Crawly's not here," she said, taking a sip from the iced latte in her paw.

Looking at the cup she had set on his desk, Buster shook his head, and nudged it away with his pencil.

"I'm sorry, but I don't trust you not to poison me," he said. "What do you really want?"

"Can I be in the concert?" the porcupine asked.

"You broke into my theatre to ask me that?" he asked.

"I didn't break in. The door was unlocked," she said, putting a hand on her hip and rolling her eyes.

"I doubt that," he said, packing up to go to Eddie's place for the night. "And if you really want to be in the show, you have to audition like everyone else. And auditions start tomorrow."

"Okay," she said, taking the cup off his desk.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Johnny, exactly how long are you just going to lay there and pout?" Lance asked, as he pulled his shirt over his head; being released from the hospital early since his injury was only a flesh wound. "I know you're upset that you might not be able to see your dad again for another ten years. But just sitting here and sulking isn't going to help anything. And even I'm telling you this."

"Well, I can't exactly work up the bail money from a hospital bed," Johnny said, as Becky came in with more donuts. "I was already working two jobs before I got shot, and struggling to keep my reputation up at school."

"Would now be a good time to tell him you recorded him getting shot, and put it on the internet?" Becky asked, making Johnny's eyes go wide, as Lance hissed at her to be quiet.

"You did what?" he asked, looking at Lance in betrayal. "Lance, what were you thinking? People are going to think I died."

"There's already a rumor about that spreading around the entire city," Astrid said, as she entered the room, and took the donuts from Becky. "But on the bright side, at least you'll be greatly missed."

"Please don't tell me they set up a memorial," he groaned.

"Some lion from the local high school was when I was on my way here," she said, making him let out a defeated sigh.

"That's it," he said. "My life is over."

"Don't you think you're being a little over dramatic," Lance asked.

"Weren't you the one that caused this mess?" Astrid said to him, as she dug into the donut bag, and pulled out a donut that had a light tan glaze and a yellow colored pastry cream. "Heads up Johnny."

Seeing his sister toss the donut to the bed bound gorilla, Lance watched as it landed on Johnny's face with a _splat,_ and felt just a little bit bad for Johnny because the poor guy was so depressed that he couldn't see his dad again that he didn't even move to wipe the filling off his face.

"Johnny, you're supposed to eat it," Becky said, making Lance fight the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration. Because if he didn't regret cheating on Ash with her before, he did now because Becky was a complete ditz.

"And to think, you left a rising star for that bimbo," Astrid hissed in his ear before biting into a powdered donut.

* * *

 **That's it for the first chapter. Not exactly my best start, but oh well.**


	2. Chapter 2

**R &R. **

* * *

"Come on Johnny," Meena said, holding a spoonful of the unappetizing mush they had given Johnny in her trunk. "You have to eat something."

"I'm not hungry," Johnny said, turning away from her.

"Johnny, come on," Mike said. "You haven't eaten in three days. If you don't eat something now, Dr. Wolfe's going to put you on an IV and feed you that way."

Seeing Johnny cross his arms, and not say anything; Mike just sighed in frustration, and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew Johnny was still depressed that he wouldn't be able to see his dad for another ten years. But he couldn't just let Johnny lay here, and not eat anything because of that; it wasn't healthy, and it would only lengthen his hospital stay. Not to mention, he still kind of had to redeem himself since it was his fault that Johnny had gotten shot in the first place.

"Maybe we can have Rosita bring you something," Meena said.

"Go away," he said.

"Johnny," Mike said. "If you don't eat anything now, you're just going to make yourself sick when you do."

"Don't care," he said.

Seeing the donut filling still clinging to his fur, Meena put he spoon back in the mush, and grabbed a tissue; wiping Johnny's face clean, as Mike jumped down to leave since visiting hours were going to end soon.

"Johnny," he said, turning to face the gorilla. "Try not to let the fact that your dad's sentence got extended bring you down too much. Trust me, ten years may seem like a long time, but I promise you, it'll go by fast."

"Thanks Mike," he said, smiling just a little bit, as Meena threw the tissue away. "And don't worry, I'm not mad at you for what happened. I would have taken a bullet for anyone, not just you."

"Glad to hear that. Come on Meena, let's go. Your mom's probably wondering where you are."

"Feel better Johnny," she said, letting Mike climb up to her shoulder so he wouldn't be stepped on or run over in the hallway, as they both left.

Hearing the door shut, Johnny sighed in boredom, and just looked out the window since the TV in the room didn't work, and he didn't have his tablet with him. And in the window facing outside, he looked at his reflection, and thought about how much he was beginning to look like his father.

"Johnny," a voice said, making him jump.

"Damn it Charlotte," he said to the female cheetah who had just walked in. "You scared me."

"Sorry," Charlotte said, sitting down beside him. "I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"Well, my dad got his sentence lengthened by ten years, and everyone thinks I'm dead because the guy that was in here this morning recorded me getting shot, and put it on the internet," he said. "How do you think I'm doing?"

"Sorry to hear that," she said. "But it's not all that bad. Your friends at the theatre already said that you were okay."

"It's not the city I'm worried about Charlotte. It's the school," he said. "I go back after all of this, and Tyler's going to say I faked my death. He was already setting up a memorial where I got shot."

"And what did I say to do to Tyler when he pulls this crap?" she asked.

"Ignore him," he said.

"Exactly," she said, pulling a bag of cookies out from her backpack. "Tyler's just going to keep this up if you keep responding. If you don't let him know it bothers you, he'll stop eventually. And here, you need to eat something, and I doubt the food here's any good."

"Thanks Charlotte," he said, taking a cookie out of the bag, and biting into it since he knew that if he didn't eat one now, Charlotte would shove it into his mouth, and force him to eat it; quickly realizing that they were peanut butter cookies with dark and white chocolate chips, and they were still warm. "Mm. And tell Reese I said thank you. These are amazing."

"I'll be sure to tell her," Charlotte said, standing up to leave. "Oh, and by the way. Moon's holding a charity concert."

"What?" he asked, looking at her with cookie crumbs on his face. "He doesn't have to do that. I'm sure I can work up the money once I get out."

"He insisted," she said. "Plus, if enough animals show up, he could donate the profits to the entire hospital, not just you...And you have crumbs all over your face."

"I'm assuming your telling me about this because it's going to be televised," he said, wiping away the crumbs.

"Yeah, auditions are being held tomorrow," she said, pausing for a minute, and listening intently. "And prepare to brace yourself. You're about to be attacked by piglets."

"What?" he asked, a cookie still in his mouth, as a tidal wave of pink attacked him because Rosita and her kids decided to pay him a visit; and a few of them had jumped onto his torso, so now his stab wound got busted open.

"Johnny, I am so sorry," Rosita apologized, as she and Ash got the piglets off of him.

"Charlotte, a little help," Johnny said, as the piglets took his cookies.

"Sorry, have to dash," she said. "Bye Johnny."

Groaning, Johnny gave Rosita's son Kevin to her, and tried to put the rest of them down on the floor as gently as he could without letting Rosita or Ash know that they had busted open an incision.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Tell me again why you refused to see me until just now to get this treated," the prison nurse said, as she stitched the wounds on Big Daddy's side shut

"I've suffered through worse," he said to her, wincing as she cleaned one of the wounds. "Figured I could tough it out."

"Well Mr. 'Tough it out', your wounds have a nasty infection," she said, giving his wounds a second look. "I think you may need to go to the hospital."

"Really?" he asked, getting a hopeful look in his eye because that meant he could see Johnny.

"If I didn't already have the antibiotics you need on hand," she said, going into the medicine cabinet, and pulling out a bottle of pills; making Big Daddy just lose all hope. "What? You didn't think I come prepared."

"I was hoping to see my son," he said, biting back a pained hiss, as she cleaned his wounds, and stitched them shut only part of the way so the infection could drain out naturally.

"Sorry big guy, but you're not getting out that easily," she said to him, as she patched him up, and gave him two pills from the bottle. "Be sure to come back tomorrow so I can give you more. If your wounds are still draining pus at the end of the week, then I'll send you in."

"You can't be serious," he said. "What if I die before then?"

"Nothing I can do about that," she shrugged, as Ross came into the room.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, as Big Daddy put his shirt back on, making him worry a bit. "Everything okay?"

"She's being mean to me," he said, pointing an accusing finger at the nurse.

"You're pushing your luck," she said to him. "What do you want Ross?"

"He has a visitor, booth five," he said.

 _Please don't let this be Johnny,_ Big Daddy thought, not wanting Johnny to discharge himself from the hospital early since it had only been a few days since he got shot.

Following Ross out to the visitation room, and going down to the phone booth, he saw a black Suffolk sheep in a purple dress sitting on the other side of the glass, and immediately knew who she was because he had watched her perform quite a few times in his youth, and had actually fixed one of her limos shortly before he had Johnny.

"What do you want Noodleman?" he asked, holding the receiver to his ear.

"It's Ms. Noodleman," Nana said to him. "I know I'm not exactly a favorite with everyone in the city, but the least you could do is have a little respect for your elders."

"Why are you here...Ms. Noodleman?" he asked.

"Now Marcus, if you're going to be a smart ass; I might as well just leave," she said. "Of course, if I do leave. I won't come back and you won't be able to see your son again."

Stopping himself from hanging up the phone, he brought the receiver up to his ear again, and got that hopeful glint in his eyes.

"Really?" he asked. "You can get me out."

"I can get all three of you out," she said. "Of course, it does come at a cost."

"Name it," he said. "I'll do anything."

"You have to talk your son into taking it easy," she said. "The boy's been working two jobs and juggling school, rehearsals, and piano lessons in between his visits with you. And while it's not my problem, I just don't want him doing that same exact thing when he gets out of the hospital in an attempt to pay anyone back."

"Deal," he said, almost too quickly for her to catch it. "Please get me out. I want to see my boy."

"Calm down, I still have to talk to the judge," she said. "I should have you out by the end of the week though. If you behave yourself."

"Yes ma'am," he said.

* * *

 **Okay, you cannot expect Big Daddy to get into a fight, and not come out unscathed some how. But don't worry, he'll be fine.**


	3. Chapter 3

**R &R**

* * *

"Okay, thank you Leona," Buster said, as scribbled something into his clipboard.

"Am I in the show?" she asked.

Looking up at the lioness on the stage, Buster went to say he would decide in a little bit when everyone else was done auditioning. But from back stage, he saw Lance shake his head, and point to the curtain where a female gorilla wearing a brown suit, a white shirt, yellow tie, and orange framed glasses was hiding, waiting anxiously for an answer.

"No, I can see your 'voice' hiding behind the curtain," he said, making the lioness turn to glare at the gorilla. "Nice try, but if you want to be in the show. You have to have talent. And if you're going to use another animal to be that, I doubt your abilities. But feel free to come back to watch the show."

"Come on Reese, let's go," Leona said, walking off the stage.

"Not you Reese," Buster called, stopping the gorilla. "You're in the show."

"Really?" she asked. "Thanks."

"Oh come on!" Leona yelled.

"Astrid, you're up," Buster said, bringing both Lance and his sister onto the stage. "No, Lance, get out of the building. You're not allowed on this property."

"What?" Lance asked, looking nervously at his little sister. "I don't think that's a good idea Moon."

"Don't worry," Astrid said. "I'll be fine."

"You sure?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "You go wait outside. I'll meet up with you when I finish up."

"Okay," he said, a little unsure to believe his sister's words, as he went backstage to pack up his guitar.

"Whenever you're ready, Astrid," Buster said.

Taking a deep breath, Astrid glanced backstage at her brother, and started playing the first few chords to Avril Lavigne's "Skater Boy". But before she could get the words out, she soon found herself on the floor, because a lion who was auditioning had shoved her out of the way.

"Sorry, but you were taking too long," he said. "Hi, my name is Tyler. I'll be auditioning to help those in need."

Getting up from the floor, Astrid walked backstage, and pushed past Ash, as she walked over to her brother.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Lance said, patting his sister's head. "Guys like him won't make it far in life. We'll try again some other time."

"Thanks Lance," she said. "Although, you are being hypocritical. You're the same exact way as him."

"Hey, I'm trying to redeem myself. And I would never resort to shoving someone to the floor," he said, making Astrid look at him.

"You're trying to redeem yourself?" she asked, seeing him nod. "To Ash and Johnny?...Lance in order to do that, you need to put on your big boy pants and be a man. Both of which you have trouble doing."

"Must you constantly insult me?" he asked, as they walked out of the theatre to avoid hearing Tyler sing.

"Thank you Tyler, for that wonderful rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody," Buster said, scratching the inside of his ear to see if it was bleeding because Tyler had sung the song so badly, he could swear he was.

 _Not going to happen,_ he thought.

"Next."

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Well Johnny, I must say. You have a lot of fans," Dr. Wolfe commented, as he stitched the wound on Johnny's side closed again. Stuffed toys, get well cards, and a small box of cookies Rosita had made sitting by his bed.

"That's just twenty-five piglets I babysit for my friend Rosita," he said, trying to keep his speech clear because his head was killing him, and he was really dizzy even though he was laying down.

Noticing the slur in Johnny's speech, Dr. Wolfe stopped what he was doing, and looked at Johnny's IVs and medical records to see if it was the medication Johnny was on before he pulled a glucose monitor from his pocket.

"What's that?" Johnny asked.

"Glucose monitor," he said, pricking Johnny's finger with a needle to get a drop of blood on the test strip. "Faster than doing tests, and asking you if you've eaten...which you haven't, your blood sugar's very low."

Giving Johnny the cookies Rosita had left him with, Dr. Wolfe resumed what he was previously doing, and finished stitching up the wound in a comfortable silence, that was occasionally broken by Johnny eating a cookie because he had finally buckled down, and decided to eat something.

"Okay, you're all done," he said. "Try to rest up, I'll be back in a little bit to check in on you."

"Okay," Johnny mumbled with his mouth full.

* * *

 **~Later that evening~**

"No, no, no," Buster muttered under his breath, as he looked at his clipboard. "This can't be right."

With auditions over, Buster ended up picking five more animals besides the original Moon Theatre Group: another crested porcupine named Spencer, a tiger named Leo, Reese, a cheetah named Charlotte, and Leona, who had re-auditioned with some coaxing from Reese. But when he looked over his list the last few times, he was slowly coming to the realization that he didn't have enough acts, and needed one more. And right now he was stuck between Tyler, who couldn't sing a note, but was very... _persuasive,_ to put it lightly. And Astrid, who didn't have a chance to audition because Tyler had shoved her. But he didn't want to choose either one because Tyler would literally claw his way to the top. And he didn't want Astrid in the show because it would only give Lance a reason to be on the property and bother Ash.

Deciding that a drink might help, he got up from his desk, and went down the street to a local bar; getting a stiff drink, and telling the bartender his problems, as people entered and exited the bar.

"If you want my honest opinion," the ibex bartender strained, trying not to let drunken hippo crush him, as he got him out of the bar so his buddy could help him into a cab. "You should go with that Astro girl, or whatever her name is. Trust me, I've met that Tyler kid you're talking about, and he makes some porcupine who used to sing here seem like an angel. And that guy's an asshole too."

He must mean Lance.

"Thanks Pete," he said, finishing up his drink, and heading back to the theatre to try and get a hold of Lance.

* * *

 **R &R. And yes, I know I made Lance OOC in this chapter. **


	4. Chapter 4

**R &R. **

* * *

If there was one of many reasons Johnny could think of why he didn't like hospitals, it would be he couldn't sleep. But then again, he couldn't remember the last time he had a goodnight's sleep ever since his dad got arrested. He missed having them around, and then he started to busy himself with school and work, so he barely got any sleep anymore. And he really couldn't sleep now, because all he could think about was Buster holding a charity concert to help pay for his medical bills when he didn't need to do that.

Giving up on trying to sleep, he sat up, and tried to get the TV to work. But because the TV was broken, and the nurse would probably turn it off and tell him to go to bed, he gave up on that too.

"Can't sleep?" a voice said, making him jump, and turn to see his friend Reese standing there.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her, as she sat down beside him. "Visiting hours are over."

"It isn't the first time I came to visit someone I care about after visiting hours," she said, reaching into her purse, and pulling out a Ziploc bag of brownies with peanut butter candies sprinkled across the top. "Want some?"

"Yes please, I'm starving," he said, reaching for the brownies. "Charlotte gave me the cookies you made earlier, but my friend's kids took them."

Giving him a fake pout, she gave him the brownies, and watched as he devoured them.

"Geez, you weren't kidding when you said you were hungry," she said. "Haven't they been feeding you?"

"Yeah, but my doctor finally managed to talk me into eating something," he said with a mouthful of brownie.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. You don't eat under stress," she said, taking the bag away, and throwing it in the trash.

"I'm assuming you're here to talk about Mr. Moon's new show," he said.

"Charlotte told you about that?" she asked, seeing him nod. "Yeah, she, Leona, Spencer and I all got in. Along with some Leo guy."

"That's great," he said. "I'm happy for you guys. But you guys don't have to do this."

"What?"

"You don't have to do this," he said. "I know you guys all want to help me, because you're the only ones who didn't ditch me when Tyler started spreading rumors. But I'm sure I can work up the money once I get my dad and them out."

"Johnny, you've been working non-stop since your dad was arrested," she said to him. "If you leave the hospital, and get another job to help with your medical bills; you're just going to put yourself back in here because of the stress."

"But you guys don't need to pay my bills for me," he said. "It's a nice gesture, but-"

"Johnny," Reese cut in. "We're not doing this because we need to. We're doing this because we want to. You're our friend, and you've done so much for us in the past. It's about time we do something for you."

"But then I'll-"

"Don't feel indebted to us either," she said. "If Charlotte told you earlier, the profits could go to the entire hospital if enough people show. So not only will we be paying your medical bills. But that money could potentially save someone's life. Okay?"

"Okay," he said, letting out a defeated sigh before he reached up, and took her glasses off.

"You should get contacts," he said. "The stage lights will glare off of these, and your eyes are beautiful."

"I know, but I prefer to wear those," she said, trying to take her glasses back; but Johnny held them out of her reach. "Come on Johnny. I need those to see."

Standing up to reach over him, she soon found herself on the edge of his hospital bed, her top half crashing down on him, and their noses connecting as her hand wrapped around his wrist, and his free hand went to her waist to keep her from crushing him. The entire room going silent except for their hearts beating inside of their chests.

"Johnny," she said.

"Yeah Reese?"

"Give me my glasses this instant," she said, swiping the orange framed spectacles from him, and getting off of him. "Honestly, you're like a child."

Sticking his tongue out at her, he heard the light flip on, and cringed at the light, as Dr. Wolfe came into the room to see what was going on.

"Who are you?" he asked, looking over at Reese.

"Sorry sir, I was just leaving," Reese said, putting her glasses back on, and pushing them up the bridge of her nose. "Feel better Johnny."

Watching her walk away, Johnny brushed away the brownie crumbs on his bed, and crossed his arms.

"Was that your girlfriend or something?" Dr. Wolfe asked.

"No," he said, blushing madly.

* * *

 **~Next Day~**

"How hard can it be to find a porcupine in a green shirt with a bad attitude?" Buster asked himself out loud, as he once again hung up his phone after trying to call Lance and tell him and Astrid to come to the theatre. Because Astrid didn't leave a phone number for him to reach her at, and Lance's phone was deactivated probably because he didn't pay the bill.

Walking up to the restaurant where he was supposed to meet Eddie for breakfast with Nana, Buster waited for Eddie out front, because the last time he waited inside a restaurant for Eddie, he got thrown out by the time Eddie arrived because Eddie was running an hour behind. And the doors to the restaurant were glass, so he could easily look inside to see if the two Suffolk sheep were there. Which they weren't, he looked ten times.

Feeling his phone go off in his pocket, he looked at the screen, and saw a text from Eddie saying he was running late; making him roll his eyes, and go inside to wait for them, and get some coffee, because just that one alcoholic drink last night left him with a headache. And thankfully he really didn't need a reservation per se; it was just a small little café with a stage for concerts or performances, so the servers just gave him whatever available table there was, and his table wasn't that far away from the door, so Eddie could just walk over when he and Nana got there.

"Oh, hey Mr. Moon," Ash said, coming over to his table in a waitress uniform. "I didn't know you came here."

"Ash," he said, looking at her in her uniform. "I didn't expect you to work here."

"Well, singing and rocking out is fun and all. But until I can get a record label deal, I have to work here," she explained. "What can I get you?"

"Just coffee for now, I'm waiting for Eddie."

"Okay," she said, going to get him some.

"Oh, Ash. While I have you here," he said, quickly stopping the porcupine. "Have you talked to Lance recently? I need another act for the show, and I didn't get a chance to hear Astrid sing."

"Last I saw of him was yesterday at the auditions. So I have no idea," she shrugged. "I'll go get your coffee."

"Okay," he said.

Watching Ash walk away for a moment, Buster heard the door open behind him, and glanced over to see if it was Eddie and Nana. Which it wasn't, it was two porcupines, and not only was it not the brother-sister duo he was looking for, but what happened next made him blush because those two almost immediately got into an intense make out session that even had Ash shocked.

"Hey! Becky, there will be none of that here!" she shouted at them, giving Buster his coffee before her manager sprayed the two porcupine lovers with the dishwashing hose in the kitchen.

"If you two are fuck on my tables, you can get the fuck out!" he yelled at the two soaking wet animals before looking at all his employees and customers. "What are you guys looking at? Get back to your daily lives."

"Is he always like that?" Buster asked, as the two porcupines left.

"I said my boss was a good guy, I didn't say he handled things professionally," she said, giving him a menu. "I'll be back in a while once Eddie gets here, but feel free to look."

"Thanks Ash," he said, looking at the menu, as someone else entered the café.

"Found him," Eddie's voice said, making Buster look up to see Eddie and Nana approach the table.

"'Bout time you got here," he said, looking down at his menu again, as he took a sip of his coffee. "How's the advertisements for the show going?"

"Pretty good," Eddie said, as he sat down. "Any luck finding that Astro girl."

"Her name's Astrid, and no, I can't find her," Buster said. "How are you today Nana?"

"I'm good," she said. "Been a bit buys trying to get Johnathan's father out of prison."

Almost spraying coffee from his nose, Buster coughed, and looked over at Eddie. Three days he'd been trying to organize this, and not once did he tell him about Nana getting Johnny's dad out of jail.

"Oh, right," Eddie said. "I was supposed to tell you. Sorry about that."

"Of all the important things you could have neglected to tell me, you choose to leave that out?" he asked.

"Now Buster, be calm," Nana said. "We both know how hard Johnny's been working to get them out himself."

"Did he beg you to do this?" he asked, nodding at Eddie.

"Yes he did, but I couldn't say no," she said, as the microphone let out some feedback because the manager of the restaurant had walked onto the stage. "Boys like Johnathan only come around once in a lifetime. I surely couldn't let him waste his life away trying to redeem himself for doing nothing wrong."

"And the judge okayed this?"

"Not yet, but I bribed him a pretty large sum of money. And if that doesn't work...Well, let's just say I have a few people with some intel on the judge that could potentially ruin his life, should he refuse."

"Nana, I love you," Buster said, as whoever was playing on the stage started playing the beginning chords to 'Dream On' by Aerosmith.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Lance," Astrid said, poking her older brother in the cheek to wake him up. "Lance, are you awake?"

"What do you want?" he asked, seeing Astrid hold up one of her guitars.

Yes, Astrid owned two guitars. An acoustic one with a green shoulder strap, and a green Stratocaster just like his and Ash's; and she was holding the acoustic one in her paws.

"Can you fix this?" she asked, making him sit up, and take it from her to inspect it.

"What's wrong with it?" he asked, strumming his thumb across one of the strings, and getting a very distorted sound. "Oh."

Tuning his sister's guitar, he gave it back to her, and rolled back over to go back to sleep; and he was just about re-enter dreamland when Becky came in, and tossed her soaking wet dress onto his face.

"Becky," he said, taking the dress off of his face, and getting up to face his girlfriend. "Why are you all we-"

Stopping mid-sentence, he tried to wrap his brain around what he was seeing before him. Because standing in front of him was Becky in an intense lip lock with another porcupine wearing a red and white letterman jacket, which was now discarded on the floor.

"What the hell?" he asked, getting up, and separating the two. "Becky, did you forget you had a boyfriend? One who is not him?"

"Who are you?" her new boyfriend asked.

"I'm her-"

"Roommate," Becky cut in.

"Roommate?" Astrid asked from the living room. "He's more than just a 'roommate'."

"I can't believe this," Lance said, looking at his now ex-girlfriend. "I can't believe this."

"Oh, Lance. It's okay," she said. "I can't believe it either. Brock is quite a find."

"No," he said, feeling the tears start to roll down his face. "Becky, I left Ash for you. I moved in with you, I helped you out more in the last six months than I did the two years I was with Ash. And this is how you repay me? By bringing some guy home, and almost having sex in our bed, knowing fully well I'm still in it?"

"Well what did you expect?" Becky asked. "You spend all your time with your little slut."

Biting his tongue to keep from screaming at her, Lance wiped the tears from his face, and used every waking ounce of strength in his body to not hit Becky because he had just called his sister, his little sister, a slut. Which was too far, even for him.

"Get out," he said to her. "You and him, I want you out of this apartment. Right now."

"What?" she asked. "Lance, you can't throw me out. It's my apartment."

"Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you put my name on the damn lease," he said, ripping a dress off a hanger in the closet, and forcing it over her head before pulling her out by her ear, and shoving her and Brock into the hallway. "I wish you two the best."

Slamming the door in her face, he locked it, and pressed his back against it; sliding to the floor, as he tried not to cry.

"Well," Astrid said. "At least you know how Ash felt."

* * *

 **R &R. And hopefully I can have Astrid redo her audition in the next chapter if I remember to do so.**


	5. Chapter 5

**R &R. And I was conflicted on whether or not to put a song in this chapter for Astrid's audition. And if I do, let it be known that I do not own whatever song I put in here. All rights go to the original owners.**

* * *

"Well Ross, you're lucky," Dr. Wolfe said, as he cleaned the wounds on Big Daddy's side, and checked them for any signs of infection. "Marcus will be just fine. He probably just ripped the previous stitches out, and forced himself to vomit so he could get out."

"How is that lucky?" Ross asked, as the lion doctor got out his suture kit.

"A lot of inmates I treat usually shove things into their rectums."

"Why would I do that?" Big Daddy asked, hissing when Dr. Wolfe shoved the needle to the suture kit into his skin, to reclose the wounds.

"Sorry," he apologized, stitching the wounds shut, and wrapping gauze around it. "You should be good within a week or two, in the mean time, I'll write you a prescription for antibiotics to take care of the infection, and any pain should be neutralized with regular aspirin or Tylenol."

"Thanks doc," Big Daddy said, as one of the interns came into the room.

"Um...Dr. Wolfe," the honey badger said nervously. "We have a problem in room 503. We tried paging you, but you weren't answering."

"Okay, I'll be right there," Dr. Wolfe said, taking off his gloves and tossing them out.

Watching Dr. Wolfe leave to take care of his patient, Big Daddy jumped up to go find Johnny, but Ross stopped him.

"Marcus, you know the drill. I can't have you roaming around in your prison getup without your cuffs," he said, being dragged along by Big Daddy's immense strength.

"But I want to see my son," he said.

"You can see him once I get your cuffs on," Ross said. "Now stop pulling, you're taking me with you."

Wrestling Big Daddy back onto the table he was laying on a moment ago, Ross struggled to get the cuffs on him, because Marcus was making it difficult; but he succeeded eventually...only to handcuff Big Daddy's ankle to his horn.

"Okay, now that I succeeded in doing this. Let's try that again, and this time don't thrash around."

"Is this even necessary anymore?" Marcus asked, as Ross unlocked them. "I'm getting out in a few days."

"And until you get let out, you're still an inmate, and still need to be cuffed," Ross said. "But don't worry, I'll take them back off when we find your son's room."

"And Rick and Morty wonder why the other prisoners prefer to hang out with you," he said, letting the rhino prison guard cuff him again.

"Hey, if you don't mind my asking," Ross said. "What made you go down the life of crime anyway? I mean, I know you had a kid to worry about an everything. But to hold up a bank, and steal millions worth of money? I've met single parents in worse situations, and they've managed to make it work. Why do this?"

"Because it was the only life I ever knew," he answered. "It was the family business. But like my own son, I didn't want to go down that road. I wanted to work on cars, start a family. I wasn't about that crime life the way my own dad was."

"So what changed your mind?" Ross asked, seeing Big Daddy hesitate before he relaxed, and just looked at his hands.

"Maya," he said, saying a name he hadn't used in over seventeen years. "Johnny's mom. When she died, I tried so hard not to go down that life of crime. But I had Johnny to take care of, and with her medical bills sapping up whatever money I made; I was in danger of losing him to his grandfather, and the house to the bank."

"So you thought that stealing that money would be a good idea?" Ross asked.

"I didn't know what else to do," Big Daddy said. "And it was only supposed to be a one time thing. And I didn't even make it out the first time."

"Then why weren't you arrested before?" Ross asked.

"Because," he said.

 **~Flashback: 16 years ago~**

Marcus didn't want this to happen. There weren't supposed to be any weapons. But unfortunately, a tiger who apparently had the same idea as him, brought a firearm, and the gunshot sent everybody into a frenzy because the bullets hit one of the guards

"Marcus, come on!" Barry yelled over the bank alarms and screaming bystanders. "Let's get out of here!"

Grabbing his sack full of money, Marcus threw the bag over his shoulder, and went after his brother; but he stopped when he saw an elephant holding his infant daughter close to him. And although this elephant was holding a baby, and wearing normal clothes; Marcus could see the police badge in his pocket.

"Marcus!" Bob yelled. "Hurry up, the cops are on their way!"

Looking at his money, and back at the cop, Marcus groaned, and chucked the bag at Barry.

"Wait at the truck!" he yelled, running to the cop as another gunshot went off; the bullet hitting the cop in the shoulder before Marcus hit the tiger hard enough to knock him out. Everyone else that was in the bank running for the door, as he sat down beside the cop.

"Thank you," the cop said, as the police showed up, and Marcus took his mask off. "What are you doing? Get out of here."

"What are you nuts?" he asked, hiding his mask in his shirt. "You just got shot in the shoulder. I'm staying here with you until the paramedics come."

Seeing the cop give him a look of confusion, Marcus heard the baby elephant in his arms start crying, and saw her hiding behind her ears.

"It's okay sweetie," the cop hushed to his daughter.

"May I?" he asked, offering to help console the baby elephant since it was hard to play off that you were fine with a wounded shoulder. "I won't hurt her. I promise."

"Okay, but just be careful," the cop warned, using his trunk to hand the baby over to him.

Taking the baby elephant into his arms, Marcus cradled her against him like he had done with Johnny, and shushed her; calming her down, and getting her to peek her little face out from behind her ears.

"What's your name?" the cop asked.

"Marcus," he said.

"You have kids Marcus?" he asked.

"Yeah, I have a son," he answered honestly. "He just turned a year old a few days ago."

"Well, he's lucky to have a dad like you then," he said, as the paramedics rushed in. "You have a lot of promise as a free man. Consider it."

"I will," he said, letting one of the paramedics take the baby elephant from him, and standing up. "But you still didn't tell me your name."

"Alex," he said. "Alex Tusker."

 **~End Flashback: Present Moment~**

"No," Ross said in disbelief. "You were the gorilla that saved everyone? I always thought that was a cop who retired before I started on the force."

"Well, I wouldn't blame him for telling the story that way," Big Daddy shrugged. "It's kind of hard to play me off as a good guy considering I did get arrested almost seventeen years later for the very crime he caught me doing."

"But I still don't understand why you'd continue robbing banks if it was going to be a one time thing."

"Well, like I said before. I was at risk of losing Johnny to his grandfather, Maya's dad. And once the news of the robbery hit the media, CPS came and took him from me. And not too long after that, Johnny got really sick, and his granddad wasn't going to do anything about it. So I had to beg my dad to help. And he straight up told me, either join the gang and inherit the family business, or let Johnny die. And I would never choose the latter option, because Maya was my rock, and the last thing I wanted to lose was my son."

"So you did this all for Johnny?" Ross said.

"Yeah," he said. "And when Johnny asked me the same questions, I could never tell him the truth. The boy's already working too hard trying to get the three of us out, and he's probably going to work harder to pay off his medical bills. Last thing I need for him to do is blame himself for me choosing to go down a life of crime."

"I couldn't blame you," Ross said. "But I know the one thing he'd love to hear, is that his dad not only saved a life of a police officer while on a robbery, but the life of his best friend."

"What?"

"Tusker's baby, the one you held. Her name was Meena, and she performs at the theatre with Johnny all the time. You met her the other night when Johnny got hurt."

"I thought she looked familiar," Marcus said, making Ross chuckle.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go find your son."

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"And stay out!" the baboon manager yelled, as he threw Lance and Astrid out of his shop.

"And mom and dad wonder why I never apply for work," Lance said, getting up from the side walk. "You okay?"

"I'm good," Astrid said, getting up, and slinging her guitar over her shoulder. "But it figured he wouldn't hire us. I did kind of cause a ruckus a few days ago."

"Astrid," Lance scolded.

"Have you ever known me to do anything else?" she asked, as the manager opened the door again, and threw what they had just ordered at their heads; hot coffee landing right in Lance's face, while Astrid caught hers expertly in her paws.

"And I thought my morning couldn't get any worse," he said, wiping the coffee off his face, and pinching the bridge of his nose, as Astrid pressed her cup against his face since she normally drank iced coffee. "Really?"

"Want one?" she asked, offering him a donut.

"I think I'll pass," he said, seeing her shrug, and bite into the powdered sugar covered treat, as they walked to the Moon Theatre. "Let's try here. We can see if Moon will let you redo your audition."

"You really think he'd let me try?" she asked with her mouth full.

"Just as long as you don't sing with your mouth full, and walk in there with powdered donut all over your face," he said, seeing all the fur around his sister's mouth covered with a fine dusting of white powder. "Like right now."

Wiping his sister's face with his sleeve, the two of them went inside to see if Buster was in there; walking back stage and seeing Ash working with another porcupine wearing a red shirt, black pants, and suspenders on his performance, Rosita and Gunter working with a tiger and a cheetah both wearing basket ball uniforms on a dance routine, Meena working with a lioness on vocal warm ups, and Mike criticizing a female gorilla's sense in fashion while his girlfriend picked out an outfit idea for the gorilla to wear in the show.

"Bye," Astrid said, heading for the door, and making him grab her arm to keep her inside the building.

"Would you calm down," he said. "I know I don't say it a lot. But you'll be fine. Just try not to stress out about it too much."

"What are you two doing here?"

Looking beside him, Lance saw the same Tyler kid that had shoved Astrid at the auditions walking over, and immediately got in front of his sister.

"I could ask you the same thing," he said.

"Well, I don't know if Moon told you. But only people with real talent can be here...and neither you or your little girlfriend have any."

"I'm his sister," Astrid snapped. "And if people with talent are only allowed here, then I suggest you show yourself out because you're not allowed here either."

"Big talk coming from a porcupine with dirt on her clothes," he said, making her look at her shirt where she had brushed the powdered sugar from her donut off of her paw.

"What can I say? I'm a very dirty girl," she said, giving a slight shrug of her shoulders, as she put the straw to her drink into her mouth.

"That's what she said."

"No. She said yours could have been bigger," Lance said, making Astrid almost choke on her drink.

"Oh, Lance, just the guy I wanted to see," Buster said, coming down off the stairs. "I didn't know if you got my calls or not."

"Of course," he lied, not wanting the koala to know that he didn't know what he was talking about.

"He tried calling you last night to have Astrid redo her audition," Ash said, knowing he was clueless as to what Buster was talking about.

"Oh," he said.

"I trust Astrid has a song ready-Please tell me yes, because I want Tyler off the property."

"Hey!"

"Of course," Astrid said, plugging in her guitar, and checking it to see if it was tuned before she started playing the beginning chords to a heavy metal cover of Phantom of the Opera.

 _Astrid:_

 _In sleep he sang to me_  
 _In dreams he came_  
 _That voice which calls to me_  
 _And speaks my name_  
 _And do I dream again?_  
 _For now I find_  
 _The Phantom of the Opera is there_  
 _Inside my mind_

"Boo!" Tyler yelled, making her start to freeze.

Not wanting his little sister to bomb her audition because of a bully, Lance grabbed the microphone standing beside him, and started singing too.

 **Lance:**

 **Sing once again with me**  
 **Our strange duet**  
 **My power over you**  
 **Grows stronger yet**  
 **And though you turn from me**  
 **To glance behind**  
 **The Phantom of the Opera is there**  
 **Inside your mind**

"When the hell did he learn to sing like that?" Mike asked, remembering how at the auditions for the first competition Buster held, Lance basically screamed his lungs out into the microphone.

 _Astrid:_

 _Those who have seen your face_  
 _Draw back in fear_  
 _I am the mask you wear_

 **Lance:**

 **It's me they hear.**

"Tyler, don't touch that!" Eddie yelled, as Tyler turned on a giant fan that was backstage, and created a windstorm that blew around whatever dust and debris were on the floor backstage. And it seemed to add onto the effect as Astrid and Lance finished the song. And Ash couldn't help but laugh when they were done, only because Mike literally got blown away by the fan. But thankfully, this had happened before, so Buster knew to keep an old baseball mitt on hand if Mike or Jewel went flying through the air at any given point.

"Are you okay, Mike?" the female gorilla asked between chuckles, as the tiger turned the fan off, and got Tyler away from all the equipment.

"And spotty wonders, why I hate big cats," Mike grumbled, brushing the dirt off his suit once Buster put him down. "Thanks for the save Moon."

"Well, thanks for wrecking everyone's hearing," Tyler said. "But I don't think-"

"Congratulations Astrid, you're in the show," Buster said.

"Yes!" Astrid whooped.

"Hey Moon, wait up a second," Lance said, running after Buster to ask for a job.

"Don't think just because you're in the show means you have any sort of talent," Tyler said to her, as she put her guitar away. "He just chose you because you look pretty."

 _And I thought Lance was bad,_ Ash thought, as she and Spencer, the other porcupine she was with, went back to rehearsing.

"Tyler," Astrid said. "I'm going to guess you're a tenor or a bass when you sing?"

"Yeah, why? Looking to do a duet with me?"

"No," she said, putting her guitar case down, and kicking Tyler so hard in the nuts, he squeaked. "But congratulations, you'll now be singing soprano."

"Holy shit," the cheetah said, as Tyler laid on the ground in pain.

"Can we keep her?" Mike asked, looking at Jewel, who just rolled her eyes and laughed.

* * *

 **Again, I stress. I do not own the song used in this chapter. All rights to this song go to the rightful owners. As for the song, I thought of the Johnathan Young cover of this that's on YouTube.**


	6. Chapter 6

**R &R**

* * *

 _This is embarrassing,_ Johnny thought, holding his side because he had once again ripped open his stab wound when he had to run to the bathroom to throw up, because he did not listen to Mike's warning when the mouse said that Johnny would make himself sick if started eating again.

Hearing the door open, Johnny felt a twinge of relief, thinking it was Dr. Wolfe. But that relief turned to annoyance when Lance came into the room.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for recording you getting shot," he said, scratching at the back of his head nervously, and looking at the floor, as Big Daddy walked in with Ross. "That was stupid of me to do. And I didn't know how bad your reputation was at school. And...I'm sorry."

"Well, I'm glad you had the courage to apologize," Johnny said. "But I'm not the only one you have to apologize to."

"I know," he said. "But I figured I'd apologize to you first since you're still bedridden. There no guarantee that Ash won't kick my ass if I apologize to her. I've said it before in the past, and didn't mean it back then as much as I do now...And I just now realized you're bleeding."

Looking down at his hand, Johnny saw that the blood had soaked through the gauze on it, and through his hospital gown; so this was not good.

Ignoring Lance for the moment, Big Daddy broke free of his cuffs, and ran to his son's side, trying to help stop the bleeding, as Tyler came in.

"Tyler, if you came here to insult me, now's not the time," Johnny said, hissing at the pain in his side.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to bully you this time," Tyler said, spotting the growing blood stain on Johnny's side. "You're bleeding. Let me see it."

"No way, you're not a doctor," Johnny said.

"Johnny, you're hemorrhaging blood. Forget that I'm an asshole to you for ten seconds, and let me help," Tyler said, setting down the get well card in his paw, and prying Johnny's hand off the wounds, forcibly moving aside the hospital gown to look at the wound before he grabbed some gauze pads, and pressed them against the wound. "Apply firm, steady pressure. I'll be back in a second."

Seeing Tyler leave, Johnny moved to sit up, and Lance and his dad put a hand and a paw on his shoulder to keep him down.

"Johnny, I'm not a doctor. But you really shouldn't try to sit up right now. You might die."

"I'm fine," he said, as Tyler came back with an armful of medical supplies.

"You're not fine," the lion said, moving Lance and Big Daddy out of the way, and putting on a pair of gloves. "And either hold the porcupine or the side of the bed, because this is going to sting a bit."

Feeling a burning sensation in his wound when Tyler used a saline filled syringe to irrigate the wound, Johnny tried not to yell in pain, and gripped his dad's hand tightly; Big Daddy trying to soothe his son, as tears ran down Johnny's face.

"Hold still," Tyler said, getting out a suture kit, and stitching Johnny's wound shut; taking his time so he wouldn't miss anything.

"You look like you know what you're doing," Lance said.

"My dad's your guys' doctor, you dumbass," Tyler said. "He's been teaching me how to sew wounds shut since I was ten."

"Then why are you always injuring me?" Johnny asked, as Tyler snipped the suture thread to move on to the next stitch. "You'd make a great doctor."

Hearing the door to the room open, everyone except for Tyler looked over at the door, and saw Dr. Wolfe entering the room.

"Oh, so now you show up?" Tyler asked, not bothering to look at his dad, as he snipped the suture thread again. "Where've you been? You nearly lost a patient."

"I had to give a constipated patient an enema," he said, moving Tyler aside, and putting on a pair of gloves to look at the wound. "And you did a good job stitching this up, Tyler. I'm impressed."

"How'd he rip that open anyway?" Big Daddy asked, as Dr. Wolfe took over and redressed the wound.

"Well, one of the interns said that he was throwing up," Dr. Wolfe said, making Big Daddy feel Johnny's forehead for a fever. "Probably because he ate something too fast after having eaten nothing for the last few days."

"What?" Big Daddy asked, looking at Johnny.

"Tyler, have one of the nurses bring in another gown, another ten CCs of morphine, and a unit of O-Negative. Lance, you get out of here because you're not family, and you're not supposed to be back here."

"I don't really mind-"

Seeing Big Daddy shoot him a death glare, Lance gulped, and scrambled to get out of the room; tripping over his feet on the way out the door.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Okay, you're doing good Spencer," Buster said, as the crested porcupine walked off the stage. "Leo, you're up next."

"Good luck buddy," Spencer said, patting the tiger on the shoulder.

Gulping nervously, Leo looked over at Leona since he was partnered up with her, as slowly shuffled his way out onto the stage...And he ended up bombing the song because he couldn't sing it.

"Leo, what happened back there?" Charlotte asked. "You sang wonderfully at the auditions."

"Oui, parce que je ne chante pas en anglais," Leo spoke, making everyone else look at each other in confusion because they didn't know what he was talking about.

"Don't worry about it," Leona said, putting a paw on his shoulder, and making him freeze. "You'll get the hang of it eventually."

Watching her walk away, Leo leaned against the door to one of the rehearsal studios backstage.

"Pourquoi elle doit être si belle?" he asked out loud, everyone still confused as to what he was talking about.

 _This might take a while,_ Buster thought. "Charlotte, you're on next."

* * *

 **~Later that evening~**

"Johnny, stop petting me," Tyler said, once again moving Johnny's hand out of his mane, as he tried to read the medical book he had gotten from his father's study at home.

"Pretty kitty," Johnny slurred, once again petting Tyler's fur, making the teen lion move away from him.

"Maybe Nadine shouldn't have given you such a high dose of morphine," he said, swatting away the teen gorilla's hand. "Lay down and take a nap. And stop petting me!"

"But you're so fluffy," Johnny slurred.

"And you're high. Take a nap," he said, as the door opened, and Big Daddy came back in with a granola bar for Johnny. "Oh good, you're back. Get him away from me."

"I told you they gave him too high of a dose," Big Daddy said to Ross, as he stopped Johnny from petting Tyler again, and scratched his head; Johnny yawning hugely because the drugs he was on were making him tired. "Getting sleepy buddy?"

"Yeah," he yawned, pressing his head against his dad's palm; telling Big Daddy to continue scratching his head.

Scratching Johnny behind his ear, Big Daddy took a long, hard look at his son's face, and saw the dark bags under his half lidded eyes. Nana wasn't kidding when she said that Johnny had been working hard to get him and the other two out; he didn't even know the last time Johnny had any sleep. But then again, Johnny was practically asleep on his dad's hand right now because he was drugged up, and getting his head scratched.

Waiting for Johnny to close his eyes, he gave Johnny a kiss on the head, and stayed with him for a few more minutes until he knew Johnny would be asleep before Ross put his cuffs back on to take him back to prison.

"You're going back?" Tyler asked.

"For a few days. I should be out by the day of Moon's charity show," he said. "And Tyler, if I come back, and he's either dead or upset that you bullied him. Know I have friends who will make your life a living hell, and not just me."

"Yes sir," Tyler said.

"Come on Marcus, let's go," Ross said, taking Marcus out into the hallway.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Forget it," Jewel said, as she wiped off her mascara.

"Come on sweetheart," Mike said. "For the show. Please."

"No," she said.

"Why not?" Mike asked.

"Mike, I was taught to speak French at a young age, and it takes a long time to speak it fluently," Jewel said. "I am not teaching a French tiger to sing a language he doesn't know when the show's two days away."

"Well we have to try something," Mike said. "Leo can't go up there singing in French."

"Who says he can't?" she said.

"Look, I may not be able to speak French as well as you do. But I can read a guy's body language pretty well," he said. "And Leo gets really self-conscious about the fact that he can't speak English. If we send him out there singing in French, he's going to freeze up worse than Meena did at the auditions the first time around."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you Mike," Jewel said, as she took off her makeup. "It's impossible to teach someone who speaks French to speak English in two days. Let alone teach him an entire song."

"Okay, I'll let Moon know," Mike sighed, flopping down on his bed, as Jewel got changed into her nightgown; his arms wrapping around her waist before the silky lavender fabric could fall down to her mid thigh.

"Mike, at what point did you think I'd want to have sex with you when we spent the last fifteen minutes arguing over me teaching a French tiger English?"

"Oh come on," he said. "We are alone."

"Mike, our luck we'd be getting into the swing of things, and the neighbors give us their kid to babysit."

"Jewel, it's nine o'clock at night," he said. "Who goes out at this time?"

Hearing someone knock on their apartment door, Mike stopped Jewel from getting up, and got up to see who it was; looking through the peephole to see his neighbors and their baby on the other side of the door. And when he turned to tell Jewel to keep quiet so they'd hopefully leave, Jewel had the "I told you so" look on her face, and he let out a frustrated groan before opening the door to once again get roped into taking care of their neighbor's baby for an hour.

"Don't say it," he said, as she took the baby from him.

"Told you so," she said, walking into the living room, making him roll his eyes.

* * *

 **R &R.**


	7. Chapter 7

**R &R**

* * *

Mike was not having a good day.

After having to babysit his neighbor's baby for what he thought would be an hour, he ended up watching the baby overnight. And just his and Jewel's luck, the baby had colic, so it didn't stop crying; meaning he and Jewel spent the entire night, and most of the morning with the screaming baby mouse. And after the parents finally came home, and took it off their paws, he had to go to a gig, which he got screwed over on. It wasn't even a paying gig; it was the birthday of a fellow Sinatra fan, and the old giraffe's wife wanted the crooner to sing happy birthday to the guy; a gig that should have been simple...but yet, it resulted in him getting thrown out of a five story window, and landing right into a hippo's butt crack. And if that wasn't bad enough...the hippo farted on him, and he nearly suffocated to death, had he not crawled his way out of his death chamber. Then, just to make matters worse, he got splashed by a car zipping through a puddle on the street; so after going home to change, he went to rehearsals cranky and pissed off.

"What happened to you?" Ash asked, plucking a string on her guitar.

"My neighbors left their colicky baby with me overnight, and I got zero sleep; I got screwed over on a gig and ended up in a hippo's ass, and I got splashed by a car on my way here," he said. "And this was just this morning."

"Hey, did you talk to Jewel about her possibly teaching Leo English?" Spencer asked. "Because it would be nice to know what he's saying when he speaks."

"Yes, I did. But she can't teach him in time for the show," he said.

"Well, it looks like we're screwed," Charlotte said.

"Hey," Reese said. "Don't go saying that. Leo might not speak good English, but that doesn't mean he can't perform. He can just sing the song in French."

"Yeah, like that's going to do us any good," she said. "You saw how badly he bombed the song yesterday at rehearsals."

"Charlotte," Leona said. "Leo may not be able to speak in English, but he can still have his feelings hurt."

"Like he's going to know what we're saying," Charlotte said.

"Dude," Astrid said. "Just because someone doesn't know how to speak English, doesn't mean they don't understand the language. Shut your mouth or the next thing you'll see is my fist in your face."

"Astrid!" Rosita scolded.

"Hey, where is Leo anyway?" Meena asked.

"Oh, he's upstairs with Moon and my brother," Astrid said, plucking a string on her guitar. "Apparently, someone decided it would be a good idea to go on an anonymous rant about him not being able to speak English on social media, and call him some pretty nasty things. And now Leo's thinking of dropping out of the show."

"What?" Rosita said, as the door to Buster's office opened upstairs, and Leo came downstairs.

"Tout va bien (Is everything okay?)?" Astrid asked in French.

"Vis de vous tous (Screw you all)," Leo said, walking out of the theatre, as Lance and Buster came downstairs.

"Listen up everyone," Buster said, his tone serious and disappointed. "Due to a post made on social media relating to Leo's language barrier. Leo's forfeiting the show, and the show itself will be postponed until we can find a replacement."

"What?" Mike asked. "Moon, you cannot be serious."

"Lance, tell us he's kidding," Astrid said, looking at her brother.

"He's not," Lance said, shaking his head and looking out at the rest of the crew. "Guys, this is serious. Unless whoever made that post comes forward now; the show's cancelled."

"That's not fair," Spencer said. "Can't we just do the show without him? What's one less act going to hurt?"

"Quite possibly the reputation of the theatre, and everyone associated with it," Lance said.

"Well, whoever it was better be proud of themselves. Because they just ruined the show for everyone," Ash said.

"Buster, please tell me you're kidding," Eddie said.

"I'm not," Buster said, turning to go back upstairs. "I'm going back upstairs. Anyone who wants to come forward, feel free."

Hearing him go back upstairs, and back to his office; all eyes went straight to Astrid since she was the only one standing there looking completely calm about the whole situation.

"Well?" Charlotte asked. "What are you waiting for? Go turn yourself in?"

"What?" she asked, looking up from her guitar.

"Oh come on Spikey, we all know it was you," Charlotte said.

"Hey," Eddie said. "Don't go accusing people of something they didn't do. As far as I'm concerned, all of you except for Rosita, Ash, and Meena are all suspects in this."

"Oh, here we go," Charlotte said. "Those who think the real bully here should turn herself in and just go back to a life of flipping burgers?"

Seeing Spencer, Reese, and Leona all raise their hands; Astrid just rolled her eyes, and got up.

"You know, I love how you guys act like you're nice people," she said, packing up her guitar. "But if you guys are really going to blame this on the new girl, who has no problem with Leo speaking in French because she knows the language. You guys are no better than Tyler, or the person who made that post. Come on Lance, let's go."

"Oh, is this how you're going to respond?" Charlotte asked. "You're just going to speak to us like we're dirt, and walk away."

"Hey!" Lance said before Astrid turned to face the cheetah wearing the blue and green basket ball uniform.

"Let me make something clear," she said, looking out to the other three. "I only state facts. And if those facts say that you four are bullies, not only should you guys be happy I'm walking away. Because if I weren't, not only would I smash my guitar over all of your heads so hard you'd probably end up with amnesia, or worse. But, I'd tell Johnny about what you guys all said and did, and he would probably drop all of you guys as friends because he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to associate with people like you. So yeah, I'm going to talk to you like dirt. Because that's exactly how you're talking to me, and it was exactly how you were talking about Leo not two minutes ago. So either do us all a favor, and turn yourself in; or shut your freaking mouth before smash your teeth in."

Biting his lip to both hold back a chuckle, and keep from going 'Damn' because it would only make things worse, Mike watched as two of the four porcupines in the theatre walked away, and found all eyes on him.

"What?" he asked, quickly realizing they were going to blame him; which made him heave a heavy sigh. "Okay, look. I know this would be something I would do. I admit that. But if it was me, I wouldn't have spent half an hour of my life trying to talk Jewel into teaching him English last night."

"Well, someone had to make that post," Leona said. "And it wasn't me. Leo was my partner for the show, I can't go on without a partner."

"You can go on with Reese," Charlotte said.

"Actually, I was looking forward to going on stage by myself for once," Reese said shyly, rubbing her arm nervously. "But since Mr. Moon cancelled the show..."

"Look, I don't care what Moon says. We're doing this show," Charlotte said.

"And how exactly are you planning to do that?" Rosita asked. "There's no way Buster's going to approve of that."

"Don't worry," she said. "I have my ways. And if you all really cared about Johnny, you'll join me. Come on guys, let's blow this joint."

Seeing Reese and Leona both mouth 'sorry' to everyone else while Spencer walked awkwardly behind Charlotte out of the theatre. Mike finally spoke his mind, and said what everyone was thinking.

"Charlotte's a bitch."

* * *

 **Let's hope Leo comes back. R &R**


	8. Chapter 8

**R &R**

* * *

"What do you mean the show's cancelled?!" Tyler asked into his phone, as he stood outside Johnny's hospital room.

"Just what I said, Moon cancelled the show because "you know who" couldn't keep her mouth shut," Leona's voice said on the other end of the line, as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Please Lee, tell me good news. Tell me she isn't trying to save the day like she always does."

"She is," Leona said, hearing her step-brother let out a 'tsk' of annoyance. "And it wasn't just Leo either. That Astrid girl that kicked you in the balls the other day left too."

"Oh finally, a bright side to all of this," Tyler said.

"Tyler," Leona said.

"I'm kidding," he said, noticing that Johnny had been quiet for a while; and he knew Johnny wasn't sleeping, because Johnny snored in his sleep. He knew that for sure. "I have to go. My dad put Johnny on some medicine to help him sleep, and he went quiet."

"Is he okay?" Leona asked, as Tyler rolled his eyes, and walked into Johnny's room; the gorilla's hospital bed vacant, and freshly made.

"Uh..." he stammered, spotting the honey badger intern in the hallway, and putting Leona on hold. "Callum, where's the gorilla that was in this room?"

"He discharged himself about an hour ago," the honey badger said.

"Everything's fine," he said to Leona, checking the small paper cup that had the sleeping pills in it, and seeing the capsules still in there. So Johnny hadn't taken them yet.

"Oh god," Leona said. "Please Ty, do not tell me he left that hospital."

"Bye."

"Tyler!"

Hanging up on his step-sister, Tyler tried to think of where Johnny could have gone that wasn't too far away from the hospital. But then he remembered Johnny still had the keys to his truck, so he could have driven himself somewhere out of the city; and that made Tyler worry, because he had overheard his dad talking about the surgery with Leona's mom after getting home from the hospital, and from what he heard Johnny needed to be on bedrest for quite a while due to complications. So if anything happened, and no one knew what to do, Johnny could potentially have to stay longer in the hospital, or die.

"This is not good," he said, running to find the gorilla.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

 _I wonder if father will let me return after what happened today,_ Leo thought, as he sat on the roof to his temporary apartment building with his iPod in his paw. 'Natural Disaster' by Pentatonix playing in his ears, as looked up at the sky, which was just starting to turn a slight orange with the setting sun.

"Ça va (You okay)?" a female voice asked, making him take out his earbuds, and see a white mouse wearing a very stunning black dress standing beside him.

"Autant que je le serai jamais, je suppose que (As much as I'll ever be, I guess)," he said, laying back to see a plane fly over them. "Je dois essayer de trouver mon chemin du retour (I have to try and find my way back home)."

"Vous n'avez aucune famille ici (Don't you have any family here?)?" Jewel asked.

"Oui, je veux. Je restais avec mon oncle. Mais comme mon père, il n'est pas vraiment approuver de moi d'être un chanteur, donc il m'a jetée dehors. (Yeah, I do. I was staying with my uncle. But like my father, he doesn't really approve of me being a singer, so he threw me out.)"

"Cela ressemble beaucoup à Johnny (That sounds a lot like Johnny,)," she said. "Son père ne les ont-ils pas de lui être un chanteur non plus. Du moins pas au début. Mais il s'est finalement réchauffé à l'idée. (His dad didn't approve of him being a singer either. At least not at first. But he eventually warmed up to the idea.)"

"J'apprécie le laïus Mme Jewel. Mais je ne pense pas que je serai en mesure de revenir en arrière, (I appreciate the pep talk Ms. Jewel. But I don't think I'll be able to go back,)" Leo said. "J'étais déjà un paria dans ma famille pour être le seul tigre dans une famille de jaguars parce que mes propres parents ne voulaient pas me. (I was already an outcast in my family for being the only tiger in a family of jaguars because my own parents didn't want me.)"

"Cela ne signifie pas que vous pouvez renoncer, (That doesn't mean you can give up,)" Jewel said to him. "Johnny a connu les mêmes problèmes que toi, où il se sentait comme un paria dans sa famille. Mais il a surmonté cela et s'est avéré que les grands. (Johnny ran into the same issues as you, where he felt like an outcast in his family. But he overcame that, and turned out great.)"

"Bon pour lui, (Good for him,)" Leo said, rolling his eyes.

"Leo," she said. "Je sais que votre famille ne peut pas approuver de cela maintenant. Mais ils vont finalement apprendre à accepter vous pour qui vous êtes. Et si ils ne peuvent pas, vous avez tous les nous au théâtre d'être votre deuxième famille. (I know your family may not approve of this now. But they'll eventually learn to accept you for who you are. And if they can't, you have all of us at the theatre to be your second family.)"

"Merci Mme bijou, mais je ne pense pas que M. Moon me permettra de revenir (Thank you Ms. Jewel, but I don't think Mr. Moon will let me come back,)," he said.

"Leo, il laissa Mike venir retour après qu'il a presque eu lui et Johnny Tue (Leo, he let Mike come back after he almost got him and Johnny killed,)," Jewel said to him. "Et il voit un grand potentiel en toi. Croyez-moi, il va vous reprendre. (And he sees a lot of potential in you. Trust me, he'll take you back.)"

"Merci, mais non merci (Thanks, but no thanks,)," he said, watching another plane fly by over them. "Même s'il me revenir. Charlotte va juste pour dire quelques mots sur mon ne pas être capable de parler anglais (Even if he does take me back. Charlotte's just going to say something about my not being able to speak English.)"

"Je vais vous apprendre à parler anglais (I'll teach you how to speak English,)," she said to him. "Mais nous avons besoin de vous revenir. Et si Charlotte dit quoi que ce soit, ne réagissez pas et n'hésitez pas à dire la lune. (But we need you back. And if Charlotte says anything, don't react, and don't hesitate to tell Moon.)"

Glancing at her phone to check the time, she got up to get home before Mike woke up from his nap.

"Je dois y aller avant que Mike se rend compte que j'ai quitté. S'il vous plaît revenir sur abandon. Si ce n'est pas pour nous ou Johnny, fais-le pour Leona. Je vous connais comme elle. (I have to go before Mike realizes I left. Please reconsider dropping out. If not for us or Johnny, do it for Leona. I know you like her.)."

Feeling his face heat up, Leo looked over at the white mouse, as she walked away, and rolled his eyes again before looking back to the sky.

* * *

 **Let me just say that French is not my native language, nor was I ever taught to speak it. So I have no idea how well my computer translated the French dialogue in this chapter. Also, yes, I did make Tyler and Leona step-siblings, because I needed a reason for them to have each other's numbers, and I didn't want to make them ex friends or ex boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. But R &R. And yes, Johnny will be found in the next chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Next chapter, here you go.**

 **Side Note: I know Mike's girlfriend's name is Nancy, but at the time I wrote Long Night and this story, she was not given the name of Nancy yet; hence why I call her Jewel here in this story although in Long Night I think I called her Violet. And I don't feel like going back and changing it, so for the remainder of this story, Nancy will be called Jewel. But don't worry, she will be called Nancy in all my other fanfictions that have her in them.**

* * *

"Okay," Charlotte said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Let's try this again, Reese. And this time, try not to fall."

"I can't help it. I'm not a dancer like you and the others," Reese said.

"Mike doesn't dance during his performances," Charlotte said.

"My point exactly. Why do I have to dance?"

"Because it's for Johnny," she said. "You do still like him, don't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't think almost killing myself is the way to get his attention," Reese said.

"Fine, take five then. I'll be working."

"I'll be working," Reese mocked once she was back stage. "We're doing this for Johnny, blah blah blah. Spotty little bitch, using Johnny as leverage to get what she wants."

Sitting down at the piano, she sighed, and ran her fingers along the black and white keys. Out of all of Johnny's friends, she had known him the longest; ever since they were kids. And when he got shot, she didn't get any sleep that night because she was scared that she'd lose him without telling him how she felt. Because as much as it pained her to say it, she had fallen in love with Johnny; she grew up alongside him, and it was hard not to fall in love with his personality. It was hard not to melt under the soft, loving gaze of his brown eyes, and swoon at his accent.

"Screw it," she said out loud, calling Johnny's phone, and hearing his ring tone coming from behind her.

"Shit," Johnny hissed, trying to turn his phone off, as she turned to face him.

"What are you doing out of the hospital?" she asked, storming over to the costumes, and moving them aside to reveal Johnny with his phone in his hands, trying to think of a way to get out of this.

"I wanted to see you?" he asked.

"That's sweet, but I'm not buying it," she said, blushing bright red. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how the show was coming along," he said. "I didn't want to wait to see it on TV."

"Johnny," Reese said.

"Reese, I know I still need to be on bedrest. But I'll be fine. Besides, I want to help."

"That's nice," she said. "But there's-"

"Johnny," Charlotte said, running over, and practically tackling Johnny in a hug.

"Charlotte, easy on the hugs," he said, getting the spotted cat off of him, and turning back to Reese. "What was it you were going to say?"

"It's nothing," she said, seeing the glare Charlotte was giving her. "It's good to see you back on your feet. Although, you should really sit down."

"Johnny, you have to see our routine for the show," Charlotte said, pulling Johnny towards the stage. "Why don't you go find a seat? We'll be right out."

"Well, we're screwed," Reese said once Johnny was out of earshot. "He's going to find out you ruined the show for everyone, and get more stressed out than he already is."

"He's not going to find out as long as you keep your mouth shut," Charlotte said to her. "Unless, you want him to be stressed out."

"Okay, listen to me now you spotted bitch," Reese snarled. "Let's not forget, it was your fault that Johnny's reputation at school plummeted after his dad was arrested."

"Oh, really?" Charlotte asked. "Well, I hate to break it too you, Reese. But he hates you. He may act nice to your face, but all he can think about is the burning hatred he has for you for telling the entire school about his daddy. And he knows it wasn't me, because he told you; only you. So don't go saying anything's my fault until you get your facts straight. Because I only want what's best for him, and right now; that would mean putting on a performance that shows how much we all care for him."

"And what are you going to if Leona, or Spencer tell him?" she asked. "What are you going to do when he's working himself into the ground, trying to pay back the people who pre-ordered the tickets, because the show that was going to pay for his hospital bills got cancelled after you bullied away two of the acts."

"Leona and Spencer know to keep their mouths shut," Charlotte said, heading back for the stage. "Now let's show Johnny our progress before he dies of boredom."

Growling under her breath, Reese waited until Charlotte was far enough away before she took her glasses off, and started biting on the arm of them; an old stress habit she's had since the day she got her glasses when she was very small.

"Reese," Charlotte called.

 _Just grin and bear it Reese. Just grin and bear it,_ she thought, putting her glasses back on, and going out towards the stage.

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Tyler, I cannot believe you let Johnny leave the hospital like that," Leona said, as she, Tyler, and Spencer drove down the street looking for Johnny.

"Well I am sorry, I was busy," he said, as Spencer stuck his head out the window, and yelled Johnny's name. "Spencer, get your head back in the window. There's more than one Johnny in this city."

"Well, we having to try something," Spencer said.

"He does know I can roll the window up on him. Right?" he said, looking at Leona.

"Spencer, get back in the car," Leona said, as Spencer pulled his head back in the window.

"First Leo and Astrid leave the show, then Johnny leaves the hospital. What next?"

"Maybe we could get into a car accident if Tyler DOESN'T HIT THE BRAKES!"

"Woah!" Tyler yelled, slamming his brakes, and swerving to avoid slamming into another car. "Good call."

"Oi! What the hell's the matter with you?!" a gorilla shouted from the backseat of the other car.

"Shit, that's Barry," Spencer said.

"Noodleman must have gotten them out earlier than expected," Tyler said.

"What do we do?" Spencer asked.

"What is it Reese?" Leona asked into her phone.

"I can tell you what we're going to do," Tyler said, hitting the gas, and zooming down the street.

"Okay, thanks Reese," Leona said, hanging up her phone. "Reese found Johnny, he went to the theatre."

"Then that means we have to go back the other way," Spencer said, as Tyler turned the car around; Spencer getting thrown across the seat because he didn't have his seatbelt on.

"Tyler!" they both yelled.

* * *

 **R &R**


	10. Chapter 10

**R &R.**

* * *

"How hard can it be to find two porcupines wearing the exact same outfit?" Meena asked, as Ash sipped on her soda.

"Probably because you're looking in the wrong places," Ash said. "We checked out all the places Lance likes to go. If it's Astrid, there's only two places she'll go; one of which Lance would never set foot in."

"So...?"

"Let's go clubbing," Ash said.

"Okay...Wait. What?!"

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

"Here, this should help with the swelling," Johnny said, putting an ice pack on Reese's ankle.

"Thanks Johnny," she said, wincing when the cold ice touched her tender ankle. "Ow."

"Are you sure you're alright," he asked. "Because Mr. Moon's bound to have Rosita take me back to the hospital once they find out I'm here. We can take you along, and get your ankle looked at."

"No, it's fine," she said. "It's not the first time I've done this."

"But I could have sworn I heard something snap when you fell."

"It's fine," she said, taking off her glasses, and biting them again. Johnny putting a hand on top of hers, and pulling the glasses out of her mouth.

"Please don't do that. The last time you did, you had to get rushed into the hospital to get shards of plastic removed from your stomach."

"I remember," she said, putting her glasses back on, and sitting there in what was probably an awkward silence for him. But to her it was just a tense, hate filled silence. Because although she was getting paranoid over nothing, she couldn't help but think about what kind of lies Charlotte was shoving down Johnny's throat in an effort to ruin everything.

"Is something wrong?" Johnny asked her.

"Johnny, do you hate me?" she asked, blurting out the question before she could stop it.

"What?" he asked, pulling up a chair, and sitting down beside her. "Why would you want to know that? Of course I don't hate you, you're one of my closest friends."

"It's just..." she hesitated, knowing Charlotte was probably close by eavesdropping on the conversation. "Never mind."

"Reese," Johnny said. "Just tell me what's going on. I promise, I won't get mad."

"Charlotte ruined the show," she said, feeling a weight come off her shoulders the second those words left her mouth. "She bullied away two of the contestants, and Moon had to cancel the show to avoid kicking out the wrong person. I would have told you earlier, but she would have scratched me like she did last year."

"What?" he asked. "Reese...why do you let her do these things to you? You have no problem sticking up for yourself with anyone else. Why let her get the best of you like this?"

"Because she constantly uses you as leverage," she said. "She keeps telling me that if I go against her, you'll hate me."

"Reese, I've known you for too long. Why would I ever think what she says is true?"

"Because she's manipulative," Reese said. "Remember last year when she bullied that ocelot out of school? She convinced the school board that he was dating his mom, and needed an intervention."

"Reese, you've known my family for years," Johnny said. "Trust me, I know a few tricks to tell if a person's lying. And I knew it wasn't you to told the school about my dad because you've known for years, and still never told anyone."

"So you're not mad?"

"Not at you," he said, caressing her face with his hand.

"Juste baiser déjà (Just kiss already)," a tiger said from the doorway.

"Well Leo, it's nice to see you back," she said, annoyed that the striped cat ruined her moment; because she honestly thought that Johnny was going to kiss her.

"Voici M. Moon (Is Mr. Moon here?)?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, he's upstairs," she said.

"Merci (Thanks)."

"Who was that?" Johnny asked once Leo was out of earshot.

"That was Leo, he's one of the contestants Charlotte scared off," Reese explained.

"Oh," Johnny said. "Does he speak English?"

"Very little. He can understand it perfectly, but he has a lot of trouble using it in his speech."

"Well, he'll get the hang of it eventually," he said, caressing her face again. "Now, where were we?"

Leaning in to kiss her, Johnny felt a strong hand on his shoulder, and saw Reese go ghost white.

"Is my dad right behind me?" he asked, seeing her nod before he turned and saw his dad standing over him; and he was not happy that he left the hospital.

"Hi dad..."

* * *

 **~Meanwhile~**

Lance knew he shouldn't have let Astrid get behind the bar at the nightclub on account of her still being a minor. But he had to admit, business was booming, and she was raking in a lot of money.

Now if only he could convince her to let him have a shot.

"Lance, you're not twenty-one yet," she said, pouring some vodka into the glass she had set on the bar. "I can't serve you alcohol."

"Astrid, you're fifteen and working a bar when you shouldn't be. And I've had alcohol before, so either give me a shot, or I'm getting the manager."

"Fine," she said, getting a lemon. "I'll make you one in a minute."

"What are you making anyway?" he asked, seeing her cut the lemon in half, and squeeze the juice into the glass.

"Raspberry lemon drop shots," she said, pouring in some raspberry puree, and shaking the contents together before pouring the shots in one fell swoop; Lance taking one when she wasn't looking, and drinking it. And he had to admit, his sister did make good drinks.

"Hey!" the bartender yelled, making Astrid jump over the bar in an attempt to escape, and accidentally step on her brother in the groin region.

"Sorry Lance," she said, as he fell to the floor.

"Damn you, Astrid," he grimaced, holding his nuts.

"See Meena, I told you we'd find them here," Ash said, pushing her way through the crowd of animals that had gathered at the bar while Astrid was making the drinks. "Lance, why are you on the floor?"

"Chuck Norris caught me in the balls," he said.

"Just be happy it wasn't the face," Astrid said, getting up, and helping Lance to his feet. "What do you want Ash?"

"We need you guys back at the theatre," Ash said. "Like, now."

"And why would I do that?" Astrid asked. "I go back, Charlotte's just going to start shit again."

"Astrid, she's trying to put on her own show to compensate for kicking Leo out," Meena said.

"And that's my problem why?"

"She's going to ruin the show," Ash said.

"She did that the second she bullied Leo into forfeiting, and it is not my problem," Astrid said, counting the tips she had earned.

"Astrid."

"Ash, let me tell you something about people like Charlotte," she said, putting the money down and looking Ash in the eye. "They're manipulative liars who will do anything to come out on top, even to go so far as to make sure a few "accidents" happen. I go back now, she's just going to lie, she's going to hurt someone, and she's going to win; she doesn't care about Johnny at all. And Leo was just in it to prove he could be more than just a tiger working a donut shop; so he doesn't care either. And when Johnny finds out about this, he's just going to put himself right back at square one where he's in the hospital dying because his body was under too much stress. So why should I come back when two people don't care about Johnny, and Johnny's just going to find out anyway?"

"Because you're like him," she said, nodding at Lance, as Astrid got up. "You love to perform and hog the spotlight. That something we need."

"What part of Charlotte making sure "accidents" happen don't you understand?" she asked, tipping the deejay. "I'm not going back."

"Fine," Ash said. "Hey Lance, you-"

"Okay, I'll do it," she said. "I don't want him blasting out everyone's eardrums, and singing a song unrelated to trying to tell Johnny not to give up. But if I'm going to come back, it's going to cost you."

"How much?" she asked, as Barbie Girl started playing. "No!"

"Oh man, I cannot stand this song," Meena grumbled, covering her ears.

"Thanks for the ear-wig Astrid," Lance said, covering his ears before the song could get stuck in his head.

* * *

 **R &R**


End file.
